Anyone with experience in timber? Looking at timberland...

[Milspecstache]

Some land that currently gives my home its privacy is up for sale.  It is at a good price and most of it has mature sawtimber on it.  Looking to buy it and sell the hardwood and pine to pay back the downpayment.

Have a forester report and walked a timber guy through it yesterday evening.  What worries me is small expenses that will reduce the actual profit.  The timber guy didn't have any of those concerns.

Also I don't know enough about the future expenses waiting on the timber to re-mature.  I did a search and found nothing so I would love to start a conversation if there are any experts on this forum.

[chasesfish]

This is a pretty niche form of investing.  I guess you've got two decisions here, are you buying it as an investment, or are you buying it based on the proximity to your house?

Its pretty simple on the investment math, what's the timber worth, how many years between cuttings, and what is your carrying cost between the cuttings (property taxes).  In some states the land and the timber rights can be split, make sure you are acquiring both.

[Cheddar Stacker]

Search the forum for "forestry". Mr mark had a post back in june about this, but I believe it was much larger scale and overseas. He may have some insights though.

[sandandsun]

Much depends on your area, type of hardwoods you have... I have 100 acres of forest (family prop, didn't buy as investment) and here in the Atlantic/southeast region we have timbered it about every 30-35 years... Expenses are pretty straightforward (cutting in the roads, transport, etc.) just be careful not to run into any disputes with adjacent prop owners- be sure to leave some buffer and make that clear to the loggers...
I probably wouldn't look to buy land as an investment based on the timber value (unless you do that sort of thing professionally), but if it is land you want/own anyway, it's a nice little cash infusion... If you will be around in 30 years or plan to leave it to family, you can control the re growth somewhat and encourage Cherry or other high demand species... But no way to really know what will be high demand 30 years out, so it's still a gamble (but cherry, walnut, etc, are historically pretty safe bets)...